And now Collinsby roused himself. Speaking to Dalgliesh, he said, “I want to make a statement. Not an official statement at present, although I realise that will have to come. I want to explain to you why I was there, and to do it now just as events come into my mind, without even worrying how they sound or what the effect of them might be. I know you’ll have questions and I’ll try to answer them, but it would be helpful if I could first just tell the truth without interruption. I was going to say, tell what happened in my own words, but what other words have I?”

Dalgliesh said, “Perhaps that would be the best way to start.”

“I’ll try not to make it too long. The story has become complicated, but basically it’s very simple. I won’t go into details about my early life, my parents, my upbringing. I’ll just say that I knew from childhood that I wanted to teach. I got a scholarship to a grammar school, and later a major county award to Oxford. I read history. After my degree, I gained a place at London University to take a teacher-training course leading to a Diploma in Education. This took a year. Once I’d qualified I decided to take a year off before applying for a job. I felt I had been breathing academic air for too long and needed to travel, to experience something of the world, to meet people from other walks of life before I began teaching. I’m sorry, I’ve got ahead of myself. We need to return to the time when I gained my place at London University.